Lenovo bringing a pair of multimode Yoga tablets

8- and 10-inch Yoga tablets debut Oct 30 for $249 and $299

Lenovo and Ashton Kutcher held a small event this evening to present their two new tablets to the world. The New Yoga tablets will come in both an 8 and 10-inch flavor, and feature what Lenovo calls a "Better Way" — by including a hinged stand to present the screen at different angles for different things.

The key is a rounded edge, much like Lenovo's other products in the Yoga line, which allows the tablet to stay where you put it while using the stand. There are three "modes" which include hold mode designed for holding it in your hands, tilt mode for those times when you want it to lay back at quite the angle, and a stand mode for when you want or need the Yoga to stand vertically.

The hinge also has a second function — extra room for a battery. Lenovo (and new "employee" Ashton) promise 18-hours of use with one charge. There's even enough reserve to charge your phone from the Yoga.

The Yoga will run on a quad-core 1.2GHz MTK processor, feature 1GB of RAM with 16GB of storage and a microSD card slot under a 1280 x 800 display. The software is a slightly tweaked version of Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, and you'll find a 5MP camera around back and a 1.6MP camera up front for video calling.

The 8 model will be available at lenovo.com and Best Buy stores starting October 30, priced at $249. The 10-inch model, priced at $299, will also be at lenovo.com and Best by stores, and will also be available at other major retailers like Fry's and Newegg.com. Hit the break for the full press release and some press images.

Lenovo Unveils Its First Multimode Yoga Tablet

Debuts three innovative modes and up to 18 hours of battery life

LOS ANGELES – October 29, 2013: Multimode computing leader Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) today debuted its first multimode Yoga Tablet at a livestream launch event with Ashton Kutcher. Known for pioneering innovative multimode devices like the Yoga convertible laptop, Lenovo now brings people a new way to get the most out of their tablet experience.

The game-changing Yoga Tablet features three unique modes, giving consumers a better way to use a tablet. With hold, tilt and stand modes, the tablet adapts to the way people use it instead of forcing people to adapt to the technology. Additionally the Yoga Tablet has an amazing up to 18 hours of battery life to truly fit users’ ultra mobile lifestyles.

“Watching and discovering that people frequently use tablets in three main ways allowed us to break the mold on the current ‘sea of sameness’ designs, giving them a better way to read, browse, watch and interact with content,” said Liu Jun, senior vice president and president, Lenovo Business Group, Lenovo.

“As consumers’ continue to demand innovative multimode designs we’re thrilled to have Ashton Kutcher on board with us to help further develop the immersive and complementary hardware and rich content experience.”

Yoga Tablet: Three Modes And Longer Battery Life Give Tablets A Better Way

One size does not fit all, especially when it comes to tablets. Lenovo designers and engineers identified three challenges tablet users face: fatigue when holding and using the tablet; no self-supporting mechanism when laid on a flat surface; and an inadequate viewing angle when set on a table. These scenarios inspired Lenovo to break the mold on the “sea of sameness” design and to create Yoga Tablet’s unique modes.

With its exclusive cylindrical handle, hold mode is designed to fit an individual’s hand, so the Yoga Tablet is easier to hold and offers more control over the device whereas other tablets require two hands. Hold mode makes reading, checking social media and browsing the web easy and parallels how people hold magazines when reading.

To convert the Yoga Tablet into stand mode, simply rotate the side cylinder 90° so that the tablet stand deploys, allowing the tablet to stand by itself on a desk or table. Users can change the viewing angle to fit what’s comfortable for them from 110° to 135°. Stand mode makes it easy for users to comfortably watch movies, place video calls and interact with the ten-finger touchscreen without having to rely on add-on accessories.

Users can lay the Yoga Tablet down in tilt mode to type directly on the tablet, play games and just surf the Internet with a better viewing angle. To further enhance the rich content and multimode tablet experience, users can enable the tablet’s auto-detection software that automatically brings up frequently used apps in hold and stand modes.

The Yoga Tablet’s multimode design not only provides a better usability experience, it offers dramatically longer battery life of up to 18 hours, which is significantly more than the amount of typical tablets. Its cylindrical handle packs in powerful, dual batteries and unlike most tablets, it uses batteries typically found in laptops. The Yoga Tablet can even charge other devices such as smartphones via its USB-on-the-go.

The 10 inch and 8 inch models run on MT8125 Quad Core processors with 16 GB capacity and feature Android 4.2. Also equipped with Dolby® audio, Yoga Tablet’s front-facing speakers create a powerful surround sound experience through the device speakers and with headphones.

Extremely mobile, both models are featherweights weighing in at 1.34 lbs. for the 10-in model and 0.88 lbs. for the 8-in model. They feature high definition 1280 x 800 displays, a 5 MP auto focus rear camera plus an additional front camera, a micro SD expansion slot, allowing up to 64 GB of total storage, WiFi and a micro USB connection and Dolby DS1 for rich audio. Lenovo offers an optional Bluetooth keyboard for the 10-in model that functions as a cover and even wakes up the tablet when it’s removed and puts the tablet to sleep when it’s attached. Lenovo also offers a portfolio of services solutions for the Yoga Tablet including warranty extensions, upgrades and premium technical support.

Pricing and Availability

MSRP is $249 and $299, for the 8-in and 10-in, respectively. Starting on Oct. 30, the 8-in model will be available exclusively at Best Buy stores and www.lenovo.com while the 10-in model will be available via major retailers including Amazon.com, BestBuy.com, Fry’s, Newegg.com and www.lenovo.com. The Lenovo Yoga 10 Bluetooth Keyboard Cover is $69 and will be available beginning Oct. 30 via major retailers and www.lenovo.com.

For the latest Lenovo news, subscribe to Lenovo RSS feeds or follow Lenovo on Twitter and Facebook. Also follow news about the Yoga Tablet at #betterway. The press kit is available at: http://news.lenovo.com/betterway.

Come on really? Cheap quality Chinese made Mediatek cpu and 1 gig of ram and ok screen for over 200? Forget that! I'm better off getting the sero 7 pro or even a second gen Nexus 7. For way less and it's way better spec

Well that part sounds pretty good. But if the device doesn't perform that well, then 18 hours of a mediocre experience isn't necessarily a game-changer. And I'll want to wait until there are real world battery life tests, because so many of these claims end up being overestimates. Not pre-judging, just carrying some healthy skepticism!

Shades of "Notion Ink", the first really interesting tablet that lost funding when the iPad was announced.

Personally, I think that was intentional on Apple's part, but in any case, all of the fledgling tablet makers fell back to retool, and the Adam tablet never happened like it could have. In the 12-18 months it took Notion Ink to reacquire funding and retool design, it became just another footnote.

Tablet does look nice and like the idea of the bulge.. Would make it much easier to grip in 1 hand and comfortably too. Only issue for me. Is the lack a 1080p screen and not keeping the bezels smaller like the note 10.1..i feel like the device is much bigger than it should be today. Looks like the ui is taking ios/miui look. Also it's Lenova which is a known brand I laptops but in tablets not so much and also who knows how good there update service will be speed wise.

The human eye with 20/20 vision can detect or resolve details as small as 1/60th of a degree of arc. It's very simple to calculate the distance at which 1/60th of a degree of arc is equal to the spacing of 1 pixel on a screen. This distance represents the point beyond which it's physically impossible for the human eye to resolve individual pixels.

8" screen @ 1280x720 = 18.7 inches

If that screen is any further than 18.7" from your eye, you absolutely can not see individual pixels with 20/20 vision. Normally, I read a book or magazine about 17" from my face. With 20/20 vision, I should, in theory, be able to see individual pixels on this screen but ONLY IF I have perfect vision.

But, who the hell cares? Almost nobody other than spec nerds. Compare that display to the world's most generic computer monitor. The same monitor that's on almost every desk in every office in the world.

21" monitor @ 1920x1080 = 32.8 inches

Almost everybody sits closer than 32.8 inches away from their 21" monitor and yet somehow manufacturers sell tons of them. Do you really think 1280x720 will make this tablet too ugly to sell?

What about 1337 gamers with their super monitors? I'll bet they're nowhere near the PPI of a $12,000 NEC medical diagnostic monitor which is a 21" high-res monitor. Wanna know how far away you have to be from that $12,000 monitor to avoid seeing individual pixels?

I love the design, it's very reminiscent of Apple's wireless keyboards. Can Lenovo finally catch up to Asus in the tablet market? And will they, along with Acer and Asus, ever sell their smartphones in the US?

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